Benefits: Disability

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Jonathan Shaw) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	My right honourable friend Anne McGuire, the then Minister for Disabled People, notified the House on 3 April 2008 that following the European Court of Justice decision of 18 October 2007 we would in due course publish details of the eligibility criteria for payment of the disability benefits, (disability living allowance (care component), attendance allowance and carer's allowance) within the European economic area (EEA) and Switzerland for those people who wish to claim these benefits from abroad.
	We have now carefully considered the full terms of the judgment and the provisions of European legislation which co-ordinates social security systems within the EEA and Switzerland, as it applies to the UK's disability benefits and their re-classification under European law as sickness benefits. Details of the eligibility criteria for payments of the disability benefits have been posted on the Directgov website on the pages: taking disability benefits to other European countries1 and claiming disability benefits if you live in another European country2.
	Customers who would like more information about the effects of the judgment should contact the address below:
	Pension, Disability and Carers Service, Room C216, Warbreck House, Warbreck Hill Rd, Blackpool, FY2 OYE. Email: exportability.team@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.
	Customers whohave already contacted the exportability team about the judgment do not need to contact it again. Their original enquiries will be dealt with as quickly as possible.
	1 www.direct.gov.uk/takingbenefits.
	2 www.direct.gov.uk/claimingbenefits.

Defamation Proceedings: Costs

Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Bridget Prentice) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have today issued a consultation paper Controlling Costs in Defamation Proceedings.
	The high level of costs incurred in defamation and some other publication proceedings have been the subject of criticism and debate in the courts and Parliament. The risk of excessive costs may force defendants to settle unmeritorious claims, which in turn may encourage a more risk-averse approach to media reporting and is a risk to freedom of expression. The Government are therefore consulting on measures designed to place more effective controls on the costs in defamation and some other publication related proceedings. The measures include:
	limiting recoverable hourly rates by setting either maximum or fixed recoverable rates;mandatory or mandatory consideration of cost capping; linking recoverability of ATE Insurance premiums to notification and introducing a period of non-recoverability post notification; andrequiring the proportionality of total costs to be considered on cost assessments conducted by the court.
	These proposals would work to: help deal with the threat of excessive hourly rates and base rates; limit the recoverability of after the event insurance premiums in certain circumstances; and enable the court to assess different cost elements together to ensure that the costs are proportionate and reasonable.
	The measures, if accepted, would be implemented by way of amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules, practice directions and protocols, as appropriate.
	Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The paper is also available on the Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.gsi.gov.uk. Copies have also been made available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. The consultation period will close on 6 May.

EU: Environment Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Ed Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, will represent the UK at the Environment Council in Brussels on 2 March.
	At Environment Council, Ministers will discuss the development of the EU position on a comprehensive post-2012 climate agreement in Copenhagen and subsequently adopt council conclusions. Climate change discussions will continue over the ministerial lunch.
	The Czech presidency will also hold discussion on the proposal for a directive on industrial emissions, integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC directive). The debate will focus on the scope of the proposal; the status of the European reference documents on best available techniques (the BREFs); the need for further minimum requirements and the large combustion plant provisions.
	Furthermore, there will be a policy debate and adoption of council conclusions on contributions to the spring European Council (19 and 20 March).
	The council will also be asked to adopt three council decisions regarding the provisional prohibition on the use and sale of two GM maize lines in Austria and one GM maize line in Hungary.
	Finally, the council will aim to adopt a council decision on the proposal establishing the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Community with regard to proposals for amendments to the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling and its schedule.
	Under any other business, the Czech presidency will provide information on the fall in demand from recycled materials and the 25th Session of the UNEP Governing Council (Nairobi, 16 to 20 February 2009). Furthermore, the European Commission will present proposals for a directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and for a directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The Commission will also present a communication on a mid-term assessment of implementing the EC biodiversity action plan.

Fishing: Trawlermen Scheme

Lord Davies of Abersoch: My right honourable friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Pat McFadden) has made the following Statement.
	Further to my Statement on 11 December 2008 (Official Report, col. 63WS) I am pleased to announce that we have today released a consultation paper, in which we are seeking views on the details of a new scheme to compensate former Icelandic-water trawlermen that lost their livelihoods following the Cod Wars in the 1970s.
	Copies of the consultation paper can be viewed at www.berr.gov.uk/files/file49973.pdf. Views must be submitted by 8May 2009. I will place copies of the consultation paper in the Libraries of the House.

Guantanamo Bay: Binyam Mohamed

Lord Malloch-Brown: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (David Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Mr Binyam Mohamed returned to the UK yesterday, 23 February, following his release from Guantanamo Bay. A team of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials, including a doctor, met with Mr Mohamed on 14 February and confirmed there were no immediate medical concerns that would prevent him from travelling to the UK. The same team, along with officers of the Metropolitan Police Service, accompanied Mr Mohamed on his return to the UK. The FCO was in close contact with Mr Mohamed's family and legal representatives to inform them of his return.
	This is the direct result of our request for his release and return, and follows intensive negotiations with the US Government over the past 18 months, since my request to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on 7 August 2007. These negotiations included pressing for and securing the disclosure by the US to Mr Mohamed's lawyers of the 42 documents, which were the subject of a judicial review in the English Courts, that could be used for Mr Mohamed's defence. Further public disclosure of these documents remains a matter for the US Administration. In this regard we welcome the US Attorney General's order to a review of all the assertions of the state secrets privilege in the US courts.
	The Government abhor torture and do not order or condone it. We have raised with the US allegations of mistreatment put to us by UK nationals or residents currently or formerly detained at Guantanamo Bay, including Mr Mohamed. The question of possible criminal wrongdoing that arose in Mr Mohamed's case was referred by the Home Secretary to the Attorney General for her to consider. This was, as the court acknowledged, the proper legal process.
	Mr Mohamed's return does not constitute a commitment by the Home Secretary that he may remain permanently in the UK. His immigration status is being reviewed following his return. As always, the Government's top priority is national security, and should any steps be necessary, we will take them.
	Mr Mohamed is the first Guantanamo detainee to be released under President Obama's Administration. We have welcomed, and strongly support, the Obama Administration's aim to close Guantanamo. Our request for Shaker Aamer's return to the UK remains and we stand ready to share our experience in receiving former detainees with European member states, and others, as they consider how they can assist towards closure.

Schools: Revenue Balances

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My right honourable friend the Minister for Schools and Learners (Jim Knight) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Department for Children, Schools and Families has today published information on the end of financial year revenue balances of all local authority maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools for the year 2007-08.
	This information is presented alongside information on schools' revenue balances for the financial years 1999-00 to 2006-07 published on 1 April 2008. The information is taken from local authorities' published section 52 outturn statements for the years in question but presents this in summary form. Copies of the information have been placed in the Libraries and will be accessible from the Department for Children, Schools and Families website at www.dcsf.gov.uk/localauthorities/section52/subPage.cfm?action=section52.default&ID=84 .
	Surplus balances totalled £2 billion and deficits £120 million at the end of 2007-08, giving net total revenue balances of £1.9 billion. This represents an increase of £248.6 million or 14.9 per cent compared to the position at the end of 2006-07. At school level, 91.7 per cent of schools held a surplus balance, with 38.3 per cent holding an excessive balance, defined in guidance from my department as over 8 per cent of budget for primary and special schools and over 5 per cent of budget for secondary schools. Excessive surpluses totalled £591.9 million.
	The Government believe that the national total of revenue balances and in particular the level of surplus held by some individual schools is too high. While it is clearly sound financial management for schools to retain a small surplus from year to year, we expect revenue funding to be used for the salaries of staff at the school and on learning resources to support the education of pupils in school now, working towards raising attainment and narrowing the gaps in attainment between disadvantaged children and the rest. We would not normally expect schools to need to use it for capital improvement projects, given that separate capital funding is available. Where a school is in deficit, it must agree a recovery plan with the local authority to eliminate the deficit, normally over three years.
	As I made clear in my previous Statements to the House on 30 October 2007 (Official Report, col. 29WS) and 1 April 2008 (Official Report, col. 36WS) about school finances, we expect schools and local authorities to work to reduce the level of balances by the end of 2010-11 and to make full use of their power to claw back excess, uncommitted surpluses and redistribute the proceeds back to local schools in consultation with schools forums. If we do not see a substantial reduction of total revenue balances and the excessive balances held by individual schools, the Government will consult on further action from 2011-12 to bring the total down.
	In the mean time the department continues to work with its partners to prepare further advice for local authorities on effective clawback of balances, including examples of good practice.

Sustainable Communities: Local Spending Reports

Baroness Andrews: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Sadiq Khan) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	We have published a consultation on the first arrangements for the production of local spending reports, which is a requirement of the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. This document has been placed in the Library of the House and is available on the Department for Communities and Local Government website at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/localspendingreportsconsultation.
	The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 was introduced to Parliament as a Private Member's Bill and aims to promote the sustainability of local communities in England. It is based on the principle that local people know best what needs to be done to promote the sustainability of their area, but that sometimes they need central government to act to enable this to happen. In October 2008, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government invited local authorities to submit proposals, via the Local Government Association in its capacity as the selector, which they consider would contribute to promoting the sustainability of local communities. The deadline for the submission of proposals to the Local Government Association is 31 July 2009.
	The Act requires the Secretary of State to make arrangements for the production of local spending reports and to make the first arrangements for the production of these reports before 23 April 2009. The reports will provide information on expenditure by bodies exercising public functions in an area and over a period of time. The aim of these reports is to assist local authorities, their partners and local people in promoting the sustainability of local communities by providing more information about the public funding that is spent in their area.
	Before making arrangements, the Act requires the Secretary of State to consult such persons likely to be affected by the arrangements as the Secretary of State thinks appropriate. This will enable the Government to develop local spending reports which are useful and whose cost is likely to justify their benefit. This consultation paper is in two phases. First, proposals for how the Government will put in place the first arrangements for local spending reports and, secondly, seeking views on how local spending reports might develop over time.
	The first phase of the consultation closes on the 3 April 2009. We intend to make the first local spending reports available as soon as possible after that. The second phase of the consultation on how these reports might develop on a longer-term basis closes on 15 May 2009.

Transport: Drivers' Hours

Lord Adonis: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Jim Fitzpatrick) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	I am pleased to announce today that the European Commission has agreed to the Government's request for an exemption from Regulation (EC) 561/2006 on drivers' hours for professional drivers operating solely within the UK when they are reservists undergoing military training or providing instruction to members of a Cadet corps approved by the Secretary of State for Defence.
	This exemption, which has been granted in accordance with the provisions in Article 14.1 of Regulation (EC) 561/2006, applies to the weekly rest requirements in Article 8(2) and 8(6) of Regulation (EC) 561/2006. It will enable a driver who finishes his normal driving duties on a Friday to complete a 34 hour period of military training as a volunteer reservist or as an instructor in the Cadet Corps and then resume his normal driving duties again on a Monday morning.
	The following safeguards have been incorporated into the exemption to ensure that road safety is not jeopardised:
	the exemption will apply to 15 days' annual camp and 10 weekend training sessions per annum—a total of 35 days. Weekend training will not be allowed to take place on consecutive weeks (other than in respect of the 15-day annual camp);a regular daily rest period of 11 hours must be taken between the end of weekend training and start of work for the primary employer; anda regular weekly rest period of 45 hours must be taken no later than at the end of the sixth day following a period of weekend training.
	Until such time as the exemption can be transposed into domestic legislation, it will be implemented by administrative means. The Ministry of Defence will be issuing guidelines that outline how drivers can manage their volunteer reserve service in accordance with the exemption, and a copy of the European Commission's decision will be published on the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency website.

UK Government Decontamination Service

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I am pleased to announce that following careful consideration, the UK Government Decontamination Service (GDS) (an executive Agency of Defra) will join the new Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) that Defra is establishing, from 1 April 2009. The remit and functions of the GDS, which I announced on 13 October 2008, will continue as a badged service provided by the Food and Environment Research Agency; ie it will still be known as the UK Government Decontamination Service. This gives Fera a wider national emergency response and recovery capability, supporting UK Resilience. In particular, the inclusion of GDS within Fera will strengthen the science capability underpinning GDS functions and areas of expertise.
	The GDS will cease to be a separate executive agency on 31 March 2009. Its annual report and accounts for 2008-09 will be completed and presented to Parliament in due course.